{"product_id":"voltaires-workshop-the-sources-of-candide-9780228024705","title":"Voltaire's Workshop: The Sources of Candide","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eCandide\u003c\/i\u003e is the best-known, most singular expression of Voltaire's thought, standing out not only within the author's tremendous output but also within the thousand-year tradition of French literature. It is studied in every major language and its phrases are a part of everyday speech, in English and in French. Yet Voltaire didn't keep any records about how and when he composed \u003ci\u003eCandide\u003c\/i\u003e or any hints to its underlying meaning. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBeyond popular acclaim, \u003ci\u003eCandide\u003c\/i\u003e's status is cemented by the work of critics concerned with the circumstances of its composition. Their research has led to a wealth of secondary literature but surprisingly few conclusions. In \u003ci\u003eVoltaire's Workshop\u003c\/i\u003e Edward Langille argues that the 1750 French translation of Henry Fielding's Tom Jones by Pierre-Antoine de La Place was Candide's most important source. Langille uncovers a range of similarities - of vocabulary and phrasing, overarching narrative structures, and composition of characters - and pertinent commentary in other works by Voltaire. Through the La Place translation, he argues, Fielding furnished Voltaire with a plot, a framework, and a set of characters that he could rewrite into a text that struck contemporary readers as entirely original. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eVoltaire's Workshop\u003c\/i\u003e addresses one of literature's greatest mysteries, raising larger questions about how Voltaire worked and wrote fiction and, more broadly, about textual filiations in the eighteenth century.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Edward M. Langille\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e McGill-Queen's University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/17\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 300\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.2lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.10h x 5.90w x 1.10d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780228024705","brand":"McGill-Queen's University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46761306062985,"sku":"9780228024705","price":110.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0636\/9240\/6921\/files\/img_e27cb486-3bfd-456d-ab6c-6b49894fdb15.jpg?v=1779164930","url":"https:\/\/sonsanddaughtersbooks.com\/products\/voltaires-workshop-the-sources-of-candide-9780228024705","provider":"Sons and Daughters Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}